Plan B magazine

In no particular order, some of my favourite pieces from Plan B. I've started with the biggest features plus a few reviews and columns further down the page.

Gang Gang Dance and global musics, October 2008

Multi-part cover feature on Gang Gang Dance and the new wave of global music, including interviews with David Toop, Diplo, Brian Eno, William Bennett and High Places. I wrote the Gang Gang and Toop parts of the feature. Click on the cover image for a PDF.

The Thing, March 2009

A six-page interview with Norwegian/Swedish power-jazz trio The Thing, and with Joakim Haugland of the Smalltown Supertown and Superjazzz labels. Click on the image on the left for a pdf of the feature.

Battles, April 2007

Cover feature on Battles, with photography by Mattia Zoppellaro, roundabout the time of their breakthrough album Mirrored on Warp records.

Joanna Newsom, February 2007

Plan B was (I think) the first UK magazine to put Joanna Newsom on the cover, in August 2004 (you can see my 2004 feature here). I interviewed her again in early 2007, while she was performing her album Ys with orchestras around the UK. Amazing photos, one of which ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone, by Cat Stevens. Click on the one on the right for a pdf.

Robert Wyatt, October 2007

Interview with Robert Wyatt, with photos by Simon Fernandez. Shortly after this I did a live interview with Wyatt at the Purcell Room, with Sean O'Hagan. It's on youtube here. Click on the image for a pdf of the feature.

Scatter (and the secret landscape of British free folk), February 2006

One of my favourite pieces of writing, about Glasgow-based folkjazzimprov band Scatter, who – at the time of writing this – had almost disbanded. The piece forms part of a wider musing about British underground music, and there's also an interview with Nalle, by Hanna Tuulikki (now of Two Wings). I felt at the time that this what I always wanted from music writing: to happen upon a point of collective energy and creativity and delve into it; document something while it was happening – not in a fortune- or reputation-making way (else I wouldn't have picked an obscure folk collective about to break up) but because it's enormously satisfying. Coda: Alex Neilson, Scatter's drummer, now has a band called Trembling Bells, with a record on Honest Jon's, and has played with artists from Will Oldham to Baby Dee. Scatter's albums are still available, and still amazing. Click the photo on the left for a pdf.

Earth, February 2008

Cover feature on the past and present of Earth, who'd just released The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull on Southern Lord. Great photos by Plan B photo editor Cat Stevens, shot in a disused hotel in Holborn. Click on the cover to see a PDF.